Elway poll: Washington voters favor legalizing pot

A new Elway poll released today found that most Washington voters supported or were inclined to support legalizing marijuana. However, the level of majority support was within the the poll's margin of error.

Thirty percent of those polled said they "definitely supported" legalizing marijuana, while 24 percent said they were “inclined to support, but needed to know more.”

Thirty-two percent of the voters were "definitely opposed" to legal pot, and 11 percent were “inclined to oppose, but could be convinced” otherwise, the poll found.

The poll comes as a coalition led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington has proposed an initiative to the Legislature that would legalize, regulate and tax the sale of marijuana in the state. Under the initiative, marijuana would be sold much like liquor is by the state.

According to the poll, "The idea that state government would license and tax marijuana sales was a net positive. Overall, more survey respondents said that would make them more inclined to favor (44%) than to oppose (30%) the initiative now circulating to legalize marijuana in Washington state."

For the poll, Elway interviewed 408 Washington voters by phone between June 28-30. Eight percent of the interviews were conducted on cell phones. The margin of error is 5 percent.